Today’s Scripture Reading (August 20,
2012): Numbers 27
As Moses
came off of the mountain carrying the two stone tablets, the law was confined
to ten rules. Scholars have long argued about their authorship, arguing that
there is evidence of Hittite and Mesopotamian influences, but that really
should not be much of a surprise. The premise of the Torah is that this is the
way that God has intended for all of us to live. Even back in Genesis, the
instruction that Abraham was given was that he would be blessed so he could be
a blessing to the rest of the world. Israel’s purpose has always been to be a
blessing to the world. And as Christianity found its roots in Judaism, it has
also picked up on that responsibility. But the laws were not designed to be
reserved for only one group of people. We all bear the responsibility as we
begin to learn about and reflect the desire that God has for our lives. That
the root of Jewish law would be seen in other cultures of that time period is
not really much of a surprise.
But for the
Jews, the law did not stop there. Jewish tradition asserts that the total law
found in the four books of Exodus through Deuteronomy actually total 613. That
would be 603 more laws than could be fit on the stone tablets that Moses
carried off of the mountain. So that begs the question - why the ten? And the
answer is that the Ten Laws or Commandments really form the backbone of all the
law that would be given. In most instances, the 603 laws just illustrated how
the ten could be kept and through them how God would be honored. And the key
word in that last sentence is honored.
If we can
accept that to be true, then maybe among the ten there might be just one. And
that one is not the first commandment, but the third. The third commandment
simply states “You shall not misuse the
name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold
anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” (Exodus 20:7) We often relegate the
intent of this commandment to just our undignified habit of using foul
language, but that is not really what God was getting at. The intent of the
third commandment is that we are not to do anything that would throw dirt on
the name of God. We are not to do anything that would cause God (and the name
of God) to be dishonored. And just as the 603 laws support the Ten Commandments
so the other nine commandments actually describe ways that God could be dishonored;
ways for us to throw dirt on his name.
And it was the
third commandment that Moses had violated. Oh, he had violated other commandments.
We know that he had murdered and we suspect that he had lied in his
conversations with God when he complained that he could not speak well (growing
up in the family of the Pharaoh, public speaking would have been a major part
of his early education), but when it came to laws that he had violated that
would keep him out of the Promised Land, it was the third that would do that –
Moses had disobeyed God’s command to honor him in all that he did.
God demands
that he should be honored in all things that we, his creation, would accomplish
in this life. It is that honor that makes everything that you will do today a sacred
act toward God.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers
28
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